Early career and education Michael Yaki

1 career , education

1.1 sr. advisor, rep. pelosi
1.2 member of board of supervisors, 1996-2001
1.3 u.s. commission on civil rights, 2005-present

early career , education

born in los angeles, california, yaki s father member of united states foreign service , of youth spent abroad. family lived in philippines, taiwan, jakarta, indonesia, , ottawa, canada. graduated high school in virginia , earned bachelor s degree in political science university of california, berkeley. received law degree yale law school.

upon graduation, yaki clerked california courts of appeal, first district, justice harry low, first chinese american appointed court. after finishing clerkship, accepted position law associate @ san francisco office of morrison , foerster.

sr. advisor, rep. pelosi

yaki asked congresswoman nancy pelosi work her district director. in capacity, yaki supervised san francisco office began advising on whole range of issues facing congresswoman. yaki became liaison city , county of san francisco, active in policies regarding china, transportation, , conversion of defense installations @ presidio of san francisco, hunters point naval shipyard, , treasure island. during president clinton s campaign in 1992, pelosi asked democratic national committee co-chair of platform committee. in role, yaki primary staffer, working closely then-candidate clinton s campaign in drafting , passage of platform.

in 1995, yaki asked willie brown, speaker of california state assembly him run mayor. after brown won, speculation ensued whether yaki join new administration , in position. in brown s first news conference, announced appointing yaki fill unexpired term of supervisor terence hallinan, had been elected district attorney.

member of board of supervisors, 1996-2001

yaki sworn in on february 6, 1996. 1 of first actions organizing children , youth summit in city. elected full 4 year term in november, 1996.

yaki known ability broker compromises , make difficult deals, particularly when came thorny development issues in san francisco. in first months on board, brokered compromise allowing city-wide installation of cellular towers in still-infancy of industry. among other high-profile projects authored , shepherded through board included building of san francisco giants ballpark, mission bay development plan, downtown bloomingdale s project, reforming , reorganizing san francisco municipal transportation agency, , building underground parking garage golden gate park saved nonprofit, family service agency, eviction, brokering deal using city , private funds.

yaki chaired economic development , telecommunications committee 1997-1999, elected colleagues head san francisco county transportation authority in 1999. served director of golden gate bridge district, bay area air quality management district, san francisco public employees retirement system. on sfpers, authored resolution resulted in pension fund being among first in nation divest tobacco stocks. served member of executive committee of california state association of counties.

u.s. commission on civil rights, 2005-present

yaki appointed congress commission on civil rights in 2005. @ time, commission had become increasingly polarized under george w. bush administration, conservatives –including republican appointees on commission – argued no longer served useful purpose , conducted partisan investigations meant embarrass republicans. after 2004, when bush appointed 2 conservative commissioners had canceled republican party registrations 2 independent seats, obtaining six-member conservative majority bloc, commission dramatically scaled activities , canceled several ongoing investigations. during barack obama administration, conservative bloc reversed position , began using commission vigorous advocate conservative interpretations of civil rights issues, such opposition voting rights act , expansion of federal hate crimes laws. first 5 years on commission yaki frequent voice of dissent on commission,. first dissent on commission report attacking affirmative action in contracting, dissent longer majority report.

in 2009, republican majority on commission began attacking obama administration decision in new black panther party voter intimidation case yaki adamantly opposed believed partisan , kangaroo court approach case majority. yaki, , colleague, arlan melendez, issued scathing dissent of report, alleging lacked political , intellectual integrity outset.

in 2012, yaki called commission launch investigation stand-your-ground laws in aftermath of trayvon martin shooting. commission considering matter during 2013 calendar.